Catching Birds

Yu Ci answered crisply. The talisman he had found belonged to the Demon Diagram Ghost Markings system. It was fairly complex, and one of the more advanced talismans Yu Ci could wield. Previously, he had only used the strange power of the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror to activate it, and that had merely been its most basic application. He needed to familiarize himself with it again to ensure nothing went wrong.

The process was brief. While Baoguang was still tangled up in the intricate talismanic pattern, Yu Ci had already risen to his feet. Baoguang had leaned in too close and nearly jumped out of his skin, almost falling from the cloud. By the time he steadied himself, a low, resonant chant was already vibrating beside his ear.

"Senior Brother Yu..."

Baoguang had wanted to urge Yu Ci to be careful, but then he saw spiritual light flickering from Yu Ci's fingertips as all manner of bizarre strokes spread out layer by layer. At first, they resembled a ghostly face, then they were overlaid with many characters that seemed familiar yet not quite. As the talisman gradually took shape, Baoguang inexplicably felt that the originally cloudless sky had darkened. Yet when he looked up, the sun was still the same sun, while a chill wind seemed to brush past him.

The young Daoist was stunned speechless, and the words that followed naturally caught in his throat.

Yu Ci did not care what anyone else thought. At this moment, in his eyes and heart, there was nothing but the dancing talismanic patterns and the flock of wild ducks on the lake below, still unaware that disaster was bearing down upon them. As the talisman was completed, the scene of ducks playing in the distant water seemed to be tugged right before his eyes. Soundlessly, he activated the talisman.

In Baoguang's eyes, the talisman before Yu Ci suddenly vanished. Then his attention seemed to be tugged by an invisible rope toward the flock of ducks frolicking a hundred feet away. Ripples were spreading slowly across the lake, and from time to time several restless ducks took off and landed again. It was a peaceful scene, a fine autumn day. But in the next instant, thunder erupted soundlessly in the void, as though someone beside them had let out a thunderous roar that shook soul and spirit. A black chain condensed out of thin air, covered in countless talismanic patterns. With a series of clattering rings, it circled the water surface spanning nearly a li in radius, then locked shut with a sharp clang.

Disaster sprang from beneath the elbow. Even Baoguang, who had been mentally prepared, was startled by such a display, let alone that flock of highly vigilant wild ducks. Amid a string of frightened cries and beating wings, the ducks took flight, blotting out the sky in an instant. A mere hundred or so wild ducks could not possibly create such a sight, but at the instant the flock rose, the Water Aspect Bird hidden among them worked its trickery. The hundred-odd ducks seemed to become thousands, tens of thousands, darting in every direction in utter chaos.

High above on the Ghost Gauze Cloud, Baoguang was so nervous he nearly leaped down. Last time, he had been fooled by this very trick and returned with his feathers clipped. Now that thieving bird was at it again!

Yet Yu Ci remained steady. Before the talisman had even taken effect, he had already activated its more advanced transformation. Though the lake's surface appeared chaotic, he was utterly certain within, watching as the deeper talismanic patterns on the black chain lit up one by one.

Baoguang's cultivation was insufficient, and those feathered beasts could see even less. Within a radius of nearly a li, countless pale gray threads as fine as silkworm silk densely filled the air, forming a close-woven net over the wild ducks. But it was not aimed at the ducks' flesh—it targeted their souls!

With a plop, a black shadow fell. Then it was as though some mechanism had been triggered. Under Baoguang's dumbfounded gaze, over a hundred wild ducks dropped from the sky one after another like dumplings being tossed into a pot, densely floating across the water's surface. The sight was indescribably comical.

"Hey, go fish them out. It must be among them."

The Water Aspect Bird could change its outward form, but it could not change its soul. Under the Yindu Black Law Ghost Binding Curse, no form of soul could hide from him, so Yu Ci was quite certain.

Baoguang was completely stunned.

The reason the young Daoist had sought Yu Ci's help was, in truth, partly due to a little selfish consideration. As the Zhixin Temple Master's registered disciple, he stood a notch above those itinerant Daoists lodging at the temple even when he did not put on airs. Asking someone else for help now was inevitably a little awkward. As for the senior brothers who were also outer disciples, every one of them possessed profound cultivation. Asking them to catch a single bird would be like using a great axe to chop firewood.

After thinking it over, only Yu Ci seemed suitable. He was not an outer disciple, but he might become one in the future. Their master had a favorable impression of him, and the two of them got along well. He was the best person to ask for help. The only uncertainty was Yu Ci's cultivation, so Baoguang could only think:

Anyone who could laugh and chat under the pressure of the Lord of Bai Ri Mansion could not possibly have poor cultivation, right?

The facts proved this point, but they proved it a little too thoroughly. The young Daoist felt faintly wounded inside. The gap between the two of them was simply too great!

In fact, he had misunderstood. The talisman Yu Ci had used was not truly so terrifying. The so-called Yindu Black Law Ghost Binding Curse was a type of talisman art specifically aimed at yin souls and ghosts. Its power to harm living beings was very limited. It was only because this flock of wild ducks had frail bodies and low intelligence that they could not withstand the curse's invasion. If it had been a normal person with a complete spirit and abundant qi, using the talisman in this manner would at most have made them shiver.

Yu Ci could vaguely sense the young Daoist's thoughts, but he had no time to indulge in melancholy over spring and sorrow over autumn. Helping Baoguang catch the Water Aspect Bird was merely an insignificant interlude in his life, nothing more.

Baoguang was, after all, a kind-faced and kind-hearted good child. That trace of jealousy vanished completely once they returned to the temple. He even wanted to take the hundred Good Deeds he had earned and share them with Yu Ci, but Yu Ci refused. To him, Baoguang was the temple master's registered disciple, held an exceptional position within the temple, and possessed a simple, kind nature. He was precisely the sort of person worth befriending. Thirty or fifty Good Deeds would not even fill Yu Ci's own shortfall, so he might as well use them to do someone a favor.

Of course, the trip to catch the Water Aspect Bird had not been entirely without gain. Yu Ci could feel that when he used the Yindu Black Law Ghost Binding Curse, his Innate Qi circulated with exceptional smoothness. Especially when he transformed the talisman into its advanced form, its operation followed his heart's command. Though it was his first time using it, it had been remarkably effortless, as if his cultivation had invisibly improved once more.

Naturally, this was a good thing, so Yu Ci was in quite a fine mood. After dinner and a brief bit of activity, just as he was preparing to perform his evening prayers, young Daoist Baoguang came to visit for the second time. This time, he had not come to ask Yu Ci for help, but because old Daoist Yu Zhou had summoned him.

This was the first time Yu Zhou had met with him in the five days since he moved into the temple.

Zhixin Temple was exceedingly quiet at night. The eternal lamps in every hall cast rings of light, carving out their respective territories from the darkness. Walking through this vast space where light and shadow interlaced, Yu Ci felt that his heart was not as calm as it ought to be. A certain urge was swelling outward within him.

Yu Ci knew the source of this change in mindset. In truth, he longed for this place, this life. To him, this life was novel, and it carried an incomparable symbolic significance. Only by truly integrating into this place could he declare that he had genuinely stepped onto a new level.

It was completely unlike those confused and uncertain years before. He walked along the great road, and the goal that made his mouth water lay visibly ahead of him. An urge drove him to run, to seize that goal. It was as simple as that.

While he was still sighing over the immense changes in his life and state of mind, his feet had already carried him into old Daoist Yu Zhou's residence. This too was an independent courtyard. The old Daoist stood within it, holding an ancient pine-patterned sword and dancing with it as though amusing himself. There was no music of silk and bamboo in the courtyard, yet the low whistle of the blade cutting through the air and the faint rustle of fluttering robes made for the finest accompaniment. The rises and falls were clearly rhythmic.

Yu Ci's expression became somewhat strange.

The old Daoist was immersed in his own world, while Baoguang watched in fascination. No one noticed Yu Ci's oddity. It was not that the old Daoist's sword dance lacked beauty. Rather, compared to what Yu Ci had seen before, this sword dance was no different from child's play.

On the night before he entered Zhixin Temple, until Jin Huan climbed the mountain, he had used the Zhaoshen Map to observe the temple's movements. He had gained two things from that. First, he had observed that the cultivators within the temple conducted themselves uprightly and maintained strict discipline. Temple Master Yu Zhou also had a relatively mild temperament. Based on this, Yu Ci had decided to take the risk of entering the temple. Now, it seemed that the risk had been entirely worthwhile.

The second was the old Daoist's swordsmanship. At the time, Yu Ci had seen Yu Zhou practicing swordsmanship in this very courtyard. That alone had been a highly peculiar thing.

The Zhaoshen Map was affected by the strength of the target's aura. The more powerful the cultivator, the blurrier the image it produced. This had already been confirmed. Yet when Yu Zhou practiced his sword, Yu Ci had been able to see everything with perfect clarity, causing him to severely underestimate the man's cultivation.

Still, Yu Zhou's swordsmanship had opened Yu Ci's eyes. He could not discern the profound principles within, but when Yu Zhou released Sword Qi, its form and substance had already reached the height of mystery. Every wave of Sword Qi was like steaming water vapor, yet also like ethereal clouds and mist—seemingly empty and illusory, yet piercing straight into the heart. It was truly the finest sword art Yu Ci had seen in his twenty-five years of life. Perhaps only Ye Bin's attainment that day, when she had fused sword intent into the clouds and mist, could compare to it. By the time he had watched it through, cold sweat was already streaming down his body.

When the old Daoist sheathed his sword and began to regulate his breath, Yu Ci was dumbfounded. The distorted image on the Zhaoshen Map directly proved that the old Daoist was a Core Formation cultivator. Moreover, the extent and range of the distortion surpassed even Jin Huan's. Only then did Yu Ci realize that the old Daoist was the true master, and he could not help but admire him greatly. When he came to the temple the next day, he had also shown considerable respect.

Those were old matters now, but whenever Yu Ci saw Yu Zhou dancing with the sword as he was now, he could not help comparing it with that earlier memory.

Was this being performed for him to see? The old Daoist's thoughts truly were hard to fathom.

While he was pondering this, the old Daoist had already stopped. His white hair drifted in the night wind, and there was no sweat on his brow, making him appear all the more vigorous. The old Daoist put away his sword and smiled at him.

"You're here. Sit! This is a sword form I used in my youth. Now that I am old and muddle-headed, I fear I may have forgotten some of it, so I took it out for a little practice."

Beside him, Baoguang said proudly, "Master's attainments in swordsmanship can rank among the top five in the sect. Even many immortal masters at the Void-Stepping or even True Person realm cannot compare. This was personally judged by the Sect Master back then."

The old Daoist laughed upon hearing that. "That foolish nonsense may deceive outsiders, but how can sword dancing and swordsmanship be the same?"

Yu Ci wholeheartedly agreed and also greatly appreciated the old Daoist's frankness.

There was a locust tree in the courtyard so thick that two people would have needed to join arms to encircle it. Beneath it sat a set of stone table and stools all year round, meant for cooling off in summer. Yet now the autumn wind was bleak and biting, the leaves had all fallen, and bare branches swayed in the night breeze, carrying a desolate air.

Yu Ci did not know why such thoughts arose in him. He and the old Daoist walked over and sat down. The old Daoist gestured for Baoguang to serve tea and pour water, then took out a jade plaque and handed it over.

Yu Ci accepted it. He had thought it was something like a Jade Talisman or jade slip, but once it was in his hand, he discovered that the front bore the two characters "Merit" and "Virtue," while the back was perfectly smooth. He had no idea what it was for.

"This is a Merit Token made by the sect. If you touch it with vital essence or spiritual intent, the number of Good Deeds you possess will appear on the back."

Yu Ci immediately focused his mind and touched it. Light flashed across the plaque, and the smooth back displayed the words, "Yu Ci, accumulated Good Deeds: three hundred and sixty." The characters were a deep blue, standing out sharply against the surface.